In later generations, people had two extreme views on the appearance of Queen Wanrong. Some people said that she was as beautiful as a fairy and had peerless beauty, while others said that she was extremely ugly, comparable to Sister Feng.
Why is there such a big controversy?
Because the surviving photos are very different. In all the photos of her wearing formal clothes from the Qing Dynasty, her eyes are dull and her expression is stiff. Coupled with the thick foundation on her face, it is really scary. But if you see her wearing casual clothes and dresses,
A photo of her daily life with only a little makeup on her face, and she looks like a delicate and graceful woman.
This is a surprise caused by the aesthetics of the times. Not to mention the late Qing Dynasty, even the photos of many female stars in the Republic of China are very bad. Especially the outdated hairstyles and lipsticks are completely unacceptable to modern people who are accustomed to makeup and Photoshop.
Wanrong, standing in front of Zhou Hexuan at this moment, is about 1.63 meters tall. She is slightly taller than Puyi when wearing high heels. Her waist is very thin and can be easily grasped, and her body looks a bit thin. She has a soft oval face and long facial features.
It's quite beautiful, although it's not stunning, but it still looks good.
From Zhou Hexuan's modern perspective, he could probably give Wanrong 85 points.
A French butler led them in. Zhou Hexuan, Puyi and Wanrong all entered the living room, while Li Shuanzhu and Puyi's entourage stayed in the side room to drink tea.
Several people have gathered in the living room, five foreigners and three Asian faces.
After the introduction of the salon owner Marion, Zhou Hexuan finally figured out their identities. The five foreigners were Catherine, the wife of the British consul, Mariana, the daughter of the head of Meifeng Foreign Bank in Tianjin, Leonardo, the deputy editor of the Beijing-Tianjin Times, and an Italian young man.
The painter Zhu Saibai and the Tsarist Russian noblewoman Nia Ivanova who was exiled in China.
Among the three Asian faces, one is the wife of the Japanese consul, Yoko Yamashita. The other two are very young, namely Lu Jingyan, the daughter of Lu Zongyu, a former member of the Beiyang Government's Provisional Council of Political Affairs, and Xu Ziquan, the son of Kunqu opera celebrity Xu Lingyun. Lu Jingyan and Xu Ziquan are married
The engagement was in place, and the two of them were sitting together quite lovingly at the moment.
After Puyi and Wanrong entered, they quickly sat down separately.
Puyi seemed to have a good relationship with Zhu Saibai, and sat directly next to Zhu Saibai. Wanrong was familiar with Lu Jingyan, and the two women in their early 20s soon began to whisper - three years later, the emperor and the queen could not afford
After paying rent, he was kicked out of Zhang Yuan and moved into Qian Yuan (later renamed Jing Yuan) of the Lu family.
Zhou Hexuan was not familiar with anyone, so after shaking hands with Ma Ruien and saying hello, he found a seat by himself.
Soon, several foreign devils came in one after another, both male and female. Among them, Pan Peter, a reporter from "Zi Lin Xi Bao", was a handsome guy.
There was also a Chinese who was too young, only sixteen or seventeen years old. He was holding a few scrolls in his arms and seemed a little cautious. Seeing that the place where Zhou Hexuan was was relatively empty, he went straight to Zhou Hexuan and sat down next to him.
"Hello, my name is Zhou Hexuan, and I write novels." Zhou Hexuan took the initiative to greet him.
The young man smiled shyly: "My name is Chen Shaomei, I paint."
Although Zhou Hexuan could only do simple sketches, he still knew something about famous painters at home and abroad, and he immediately remembered who Chen Shaomei was. He joined the Chinese Painting Research Association at the age of 15, emerged in Peking at the age of 16, and became famous at the age of 17.
A backbone of the Hushe Painting Society, he won the Silver Medal of Fine Arts at the Belgian International Exposition at the age of 21. He chaired the Tianjin branch of the Hushe Painting Society at the age of 22 and became a leader in the Tianjin painting circle.
What a genius in Chinese painting!
After all the guests had arrived, Marien clapped her hands and said, "Today I want to introduce two new friends to you. One is the famous novelist Mr. Zhou Hexuan." Marien smiled and pointed at Zhou Hexuan, "Mr. Zhou's "
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is extremely popular in North China. He spent ten years traveling around the world and has unique insights into the social history, culture and art of Eastern and Western countries."
"Bah, bang, bang!" A burst of sparse applause sounded.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and waved to everyone.
Ma Ruien pointed to Chen Shaomei and said: "This young man is Mr. Chen Shaomei. Even though he is only 17 years old, Mr. Chen has already started teaching courses in Peking. His artistic level of painting is very high."
Chen Shaomei immediately stood up and greeted everyone with fists in his hands.
The servant brought coffee and tea, Marion put a record into the phonograph herself, and soon soothing soft music filled the living room.
The French consul's wife obviously liked Chen Shaomei very much and was determined to help him become famous among foreigners in Tianjin. She then opened the paintings that Chen Shaomei had brought and said, "This is Mr. Chen's work this year. Let's all appreciate it."
Because some guests did not understand Chinese, Maryen said this in English, and everyone present gathered around.
It is a pity that foreign devils generally do not like Chinese paintings. Only the young Italian painter Giuseppe admired it and said happily: "I am visiting China this time specifically to study the art of Chinese painting. Mr. Chen's works amaze me."
Puyi also had some art appreciation ability. He nodded and said: "This painting combines hardness and softness, and is quite in the style of the Northern School."
The discussion on the appreciation of Chen Shaomei's works basically ended here, because other foreigners couldn't get in the conversation at all. Marion seemed a little frustrated. She failed to stir up a popular topic, which made the opening of today's salon a bit deserted.
Pan Peter, a handsome reporter from Zilin West News, was very discerning and took the initiative to change the topic from Chinese paintings to oil paintings, and the scene gradually became lively.
Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Rembrandt... Western famous people popped up one after another, and everyone gathered around them to talk loudly. It seemed that they all turned into masters of art appreciation.
Zhou Hexuan was too lazy to get involved. He had no research on the matter and could only talk in general terms when asked, so why bother showing off.
Seeing that he remained silent, Marion asked proactively: "Mr. Zhou, besides Futurism, which school do you also admire?"
"Cubism," Zhou Hexuan said without surprising, "Picasso is the greatest painter today, and the 20th century will definitely be Picasso's century."
Sure enough, as soon as he said this, everyone looked at him in surprise.
Zhu Saibai frowned and said: "I admit that Picasso is indeed a genius, and his works created the Cubist school of painting, but I don't think Picasso is as great as you said."
"We'll see, I trust my own vision." Zhou Hexuan said with a mysterious smile.
Giuseppe curled his lips and didn't want to talk anymore, because the two people's views were too different, and he didn't like those damn cubisms either.
Russian noblewoman Nia Ivanova suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhou, you said you have traveled around the world, but have you been to Russia?"
"Of course," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "I admire Tolstoy very much and I went to visit his former residence."
Ivanova asked: "What do you think of the rebellion in Russia? It seems that most Chinese people now agree with that rebellion."
The rebellion this lady was talking about naturally refers to the October Revolution.
"The roots of the Russian revolution must start with Peter the Great 200 years ago..." Zhou Hexuan started to talk nonsense again.
